---
title: "Search US federal political candidates via the OpenFEC API."
method: GET
path: "/api/gov/fec-candidate"
tags: ["gov"]
---

# Search US federal political candidates via the OpenFEC API.

`GET /api/gov/fec-candidate`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://2s.io`
- URL: `https://2s.io/api/gov/fec-candidate`
- Auth: API key in header `PAYMENT-SIGNATURE`

Search US federal political candidates via the OpenFEC API. Filter by free-text q (name match), candidate ID (e.g. H0VA01076), state, district, party (DEM, REP, IND, LIB, GRE, etc.), office (P=President | S=Senate | H=House), election cycle (even years), election year, and hasRaised (only candidates with reported receipts). Returns FEC candidate ID, name, party, office, state/district, incumbency status, active-through cycle, first/last file dates, cycles, principal committee linkage. Use the candidate ID returned here to fetch their committees with /api/gov/fec-committee.

## Query parameters

- `q` string
- `candidateId` string
- `state` string
- `district` string
- `party` string
- `office` 'P' | 'S' | 'H'
- `cycle` integer
- `electionYear` integer
- `hasRaised` boolean
- `perPage` integer
- `page` integer
- `trial` 1

## Other responses

- `200` (unresolved $ref)
- `400`: Invalid request — not charged. error.code: BAD_REQUEST or INVALID_PARAM (parameter validation; error.details.issues lists each problem), MALFORMED_JSON, or a request-specific code. Other client errors: 405 METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED (wrong verb; see the Allow header), 413 PAYLOAD_TOO_LARGE.
- `402`: Payment required. Body is the x402 PaymentRequirements envelope with a multi-network accepts array; the per-call price is in accepts[].amount (and on the operation as x-2s-price). Sign for whichever rail you hold USDC on (EIP-3009 for Base, partial SPL transfer for Solana) and retry with the PAYMENT-SIGNATURE header (X-PAYMENT also accepted for v1 clients). Also PAYMENT_SETTLE_FAILED (error envelope) when a verified payment failed to settle: error.details.chargeStatus is "not_charged" (retry with a fresh payment) or "unknown" (the authorization may still settle before its deadline — check it before retrying).
- `404`: Not found — NOT_FOUND (or NO_SOURCES / NO_OPINIONS): the requested entity does not exist. Not charged.
- `429`: Too many requests — RATE_LIMITED: our per-IP / per-payer limiter. Not charged; retry after Retry-After.
- `5XX`: Server-side failure. 500 INTERNAL: unexpected error; quote error.errorId (also the X-2s-Error-Id header). 502 UPSTREAM_UNAVAILABLE (or another UPSTREAM_* code): the data provider failed — composite endpoints refuse unbilled when every source fails. 503 SERVICE_PAUSED: endpoint paused by the operator kill switch, retry after Retry-After; 503 SPEND_CAP: daily upstream budget exhausted. 504 UPSTREAM_TIMEOUT. Not charged.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/2s-io/apis/2s-the-most-everything-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/2s-io/apis/2s-the-most-everything-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/2s-io/apis/2s-the-most-everything-api/revisions/da4c5caf686e?raw)